An Eventful Week

It's been a while since I have had time to write a blog- there has been so much going on! It seems that everyone on my floor had an accident or got ill at the same time. For the sake of some of their dignity, I won't name any names, but I don't think any of them would mind me sharing...

The Thursday past last week was one of the girls 18th birthdays, so all of us girls decided to have a night out at Fubar in town- not necessarily the nicest of clubs, but there's not a huge choice in Stirling. It's challenging being a part of what's going on on nights out without having a drink, but all in all the night went really well. I drove in, which meant that no one tried to persuade me to have a drink, something I always struggle to refuse- it makes me feel like I'm somehow not as "fun" as everyone else if I say no. Anyway, I stayed for a while, then left when everyone started to get too drunk for it to be fun for a sober person.

The lovely Fubar

I got home, got into bed, and my phone started to go and someone was banging at my door. They told me that one of the girls had got a stiletto through the foot. Being the only sober one in the flat, I ended up driving her half an hour to Larbert to the nearest hospital and staying there with her until around 5 in the morning while she had what I described as a "Jesus hole" in her foot glued up.

Whilst I would love to say this was the most dramatic event of the weekend, it only got worse from there. One of the other girls got a horrendous case of tonsilitis, so needed to go to the out of hours GP at the minor injuries unit on Saturday. This meant that I had to put off doing an essay due on Monday, but it wasn't the end of the world- we were only there for a few hours.

The hospital looks much less scary in the daylight

Things only got worse on Sunday. I got my essay finished in the afternoon, which was a huge relief as I had been procrastinating and did not want to do it at all- another blog on the joys of philosophy will follow! The others decided to have a drink in the evening, a quiet session which became terribly dramatic when my closest friend in the flat managed to drink enough to give herself alcohol poisoning. This resulted in yet another night in A&E and two days of feeling ill for the poor girl. She doesn't drink usually at home, and overestimated her own capacity- a mistake she will not make in a hurry again!

I guess I learned two things over the course of the weekend- both from people's reactions to me and both equally important. The first was that I can have fun and be a part of the fun even without having a drink in me- this is something I've had a lot of trouble accepting over the years. The second was that the way we behave can be a great witness to the people around us. By unflinchingly accepting the responsibility of taking people where they needed to go, I showed that there is something different about my life- and people have said so. Hopefully this is something I can continue.